Crystal Moms
by dreaminsapphire
Summary: Greg is panicked about raising Steven alone and he turns to the only people who might understand everything that Steven is for help, but will the Gems be able to take care of a child- a half-human baby alone?
1. Chapter 1

Steven Universe

And Baby Makes… Five

The rainy day seemed oddly fitting for what Garnet saw coming. She knew that it would hurt the others but she had to let this one play out as it would. It was the only hope for Greg Universe to ever see his child again. She waited patiently while he made his way down the beach, she could see him long before he knew. Standing by the cave entrance she watched and waited until Greg appeared holding what could only be the son of Rose Quartz.

He was tiny and had a small amount of fluffy hair on his head. Greg held him so carefully that Garnet knew he was having second thoughts. She glanced toward him as if she had just noticed him when Greg made his approach more apparent.

"Garnet- I uh, are the rest of the gems here?" He asked nervously. Garnet looked him straight on, unblinking. She knew what was going to happen, but for once she hoped she was wrong.

"They're in the temple just now."

"Oh, um, good, because I kind of had something to say-" Greg finished lamely.

"You don't have to do this Greg." Garnet said softly. She knew it had to be difficult, especially for something as fragile as a human, but she wished she could convey the sense of importance she felt about Greg being a part of Steven's life. The child was after all half-human and he needed to learn about that just as much as he would need to learn about being a gem.

Greg sighed. His gaze cast on the rocky cave floor. Garnet nodded before opening the door to the temple. She went directly to Pearl's room and found both her and Amethyst sitting mutely together. "Greg's here." She said trying not to cry herself.

"Did he bring it with him?" Pearl asked icily. Amethyst glanced nervously between the two gems. She was still rather young and didn't quite understand the significance of Pearl's words.

"Steven is with him yes." Pearl looked like she might ignore Greg's arrival, but marched out of the temple, followed swiftly by the other two.

"So it's true?" Amethyst asked, her eyes shining with tears. Garnet nodded softly before making her way out of the temple.

"What are you doing here Greg? You got what you wanted didn't you? You got Rose to pick you over everything." Pearl's voice cracked as she tried to look intimidating, and above all look at the child.

"Pearl, I know you're upset but you've got to understand she didn't tell me that this would happen like this. She didn't tell me until she had already decided. This isn't how it's supposed to be you know. This is supposed to be the happiest day of my life, but it's not." Greg glanced down at the bundle in his arms. He seemed to be sleeping. "Look here." Greg moved toward Pearl and guided his infant son into her arms. He braced her gently and reminded her to be careful with his head and watched as her eyes changed from anger to worry to something else entirely. He knew what he had to do.

"Pearl, I'm sorry." He said making his way back out of the cave. He kept his voice soothing but Pearl had noticed him backing away.

"What are you doing?" She asked suddenly alarmed. Steven woke up in her arms and started making gurgling noises.

"Pearl it's for his own good. I can't be a father to him by myself, I'm not good enough to raise someone who is obviously so important. I can't do this without- without Rose." He said before turning back to the human part of the beach and making his way away from the rocky hands of the temple.

"You don't have to do this Greg." Garnet whispered again. No one heard. Baby Steven started to whimper in Pearl's arms.

"Garnet I don't-" Pearl began rather panicky.

"And you think I do?" Garnet asked grabbing the child before Pearl could drop him and allowing the other gem to freak out. Amethyst looked on in curiosity at the scene, unusually quiet. The baby fussed more and the gems all looked at each other nervously.


	2. Chapter 2

Supplies

Pearl was sitting on the warp pad in the temple. Steven was lying on a blanket beside her. Greg had left the blanket with Steven and now Garnet had left with Amethyst to get human provisions. Pearl had protested at first at being left alone with the baby, but watching him flail his tiny little hands happily caught her interest.

The newborn had a very fixated gaze and Pearl felt like he was constantly staring directly at her. He looked so much like her when he did. He grabbed at one of her fingers and wrapped his whole fist around it. She couldn't help the smile that came to her face. "You are awfully cute." She whispered. Steven made a happy sound.

Pearl picked the baby up and held him close to her. "Oh Steven, you are going to okay. You know why? Because you are a Chrystal Gem, and you have us to take care of you now."

"Aww she LIKES him!" Pearl jumped slightly but managed to keep from jarring the infant. Amethyst had returned and had shape-shifted to have eight arms in which she carried bags and bags of groceries, baby books, and other things Pearl couldn't even imagine the use for. Humans where so strange.

"Amethyst, you need to be careful about yelling around Steven." Garnet warned, but there was no heat behind her words. Amethyst looked bashfully at the taller gem. "It's alright." Garnet was carrying a large stack of two-by-fours and a bucket of nails as which she dropped at the cave entrance.

"What is all this?" Pearl stood up rocking Steven intuitively. Garnet smiled at her friend's remarked improvement. She knew that leaving Pearl alone with Steven would be the best way to get the two to bond. Pearl held Steven rather possessively as Amethyst stood on tiptoes to look at him.

"He's so squirmy." She commented touching his fluffy hair.

"We need to build a stable environment for Steven." Garnet said, gently putting her hand on Pearl's back.

"A wha—" Pearl looked up, her blue eyes swirling with confusion.

"That's what the book said anyway." Garnet pulled out a parenting book she had picked up in town. Pearl looked skeptically at the human book.

"Yeah," Amethyst said enthusiastically, her whole body bouncing with excitement, "it's got all kinds of stuff about how to deal with babies, and food, and diapers, and and and" she trailed off flipping through the book after grabbing it from Garnet's hand, "and supportive parenting- whatever that means."

"It means," Garnet grabbed the book back, "that we are going to baby-proof the temple."

"Baby-proof?" Pearl asked in confusion.

"Just watch Steven and take him out of the cave for a bit." Garnet said. Pearl grabbed Steven's blanket and took him to one of the rocks just outside the entrance to the temple.

"Okay Steven we're going to wait here while Garnet and Amethyst get everything ready for you." The baby gurgled softly and he smiled at Pearl. She felt her eyes tear up, his smile was so like his mother's.


	3. Chapter 3

New Rise

The gems spent the day building a house and watching baby Steven as they prepared for this life-changing complication. Garnet had managed to build a 'crib', which was like a cage humans used to put their children in. Apparently it was very important for developmental sleep patterns- at least that's what the book said.

Amethyst had yet to hold Steven because Garnet had warned her to keep her distance. Something about babies being fragile. She couldn't help her curiosity when Pearl finally left to go assist Garnet's calculations for a roof. She carefully unwrapped the blanket around the little boy so she could actually see him. His body was mostly human although he was wearing some kind of garment that she thought Greg had once called pants. The gems didn't really understand clothing, their regeneration just kind of took in to consideration personality and preference, so while they could imagine what they would want to look like, they never had the human concept of style. The regeneration just sort of fit them, if they thought about it. Amethyst was surprised to see the pink gem exactly where it had been on Rose on this tiny infant.

"Amethyst! What are you doing?" Pearl asked, noticing her for the first time.

"He's got Rose's gem." She said by way of explanation.

"He does?" Pearl asked running over to look at Steven. The infant waved his hands back and forth and Pearl grabbed each of them gently so she could look at his stomach. "He does!"

Garnet approached the enthralled gems to see what was so fascinating.

"Garnet, look at this, he's got the Rose Quartz gem. What does this mean exactly?" Pearl asked nervously.

Garnet looked carefully at the tiny baby. "He is half-magic. It could mean anything."

"You don't think he'll be able to be like us, will he?" Amethyst asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Garnet could only shrug. "Only time will tell, but he is a crystal gem too."

 **Sorry for the short chapter. Should have more out soon.**


End file.
